TV listings
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TV listings (television listings, also sometimes called a TV guide or program/programme guide) are a printed or electronic
Overview
Since the
Most print listings publications originally displayed programming information a text-based format modeled after program logs maintained by local broadcasters, which organized programs first by their scheduled airtime and secondarily by channel, a format that allowed complete program titles and synopses of reasonable detail to be incorporated into the guide. With the formation of other broadcast and subscription channels in subsequent years, set space requirements resulted in detailed synopses being gradually restricted to series and specials – usually those airing in evening timeslots – as well as movies.
Since the 1980s,
Program listings data is compiled by various
serve as the major providers of television listings metadata.History
United Kingdom
On 1 March 1991, the monopoly on listings magazines ended and the market was opened up.
Traditionally these have been simple broadcast programming lists of what appears in chronological order on the various channels available, having been designed for an age in which there were only a few channels, and where the only medium was paper. Today, with 600 channels in the UK today, the Internet offers different formats and possibilities for TV listings and television is starting to appear in both mobile and internet formats, so the whole approach to TV listings is changing. In addition, most UK newspapers publish a full week's listings guide in their Saturday and Sunday editions.[citation needed]
United States
Print listings
The first television program guide to be published in the US was released by New York City television station WNBT (now NBC owned-and-operated station WNBC) in June 1941; the station mailed "program cards" containing programming information for the week of 30 June to 5 July, to local owners of television sets. The program cards were attached with an "opinion card" at the bottom of the guide, which NBC asked owners to fill out and mail to the network.[4]
The first local "television guide books" first began publication during 1948: Television Forecast in Chicago, the Local Televiser in Philadelphia, and the TeleVision Guide in New York City.Television Forecast was first sold on newsstands on 9 May 1948 and was the first continuously published television listings magazine. Founder Les Viahon and three other partners bankrolled the venture with an initial funding round of $250 each; they initially published Television Forecast in the basement classroom of Abbot Hall at Northwestern University, and bounded the inaugural issue with staplers borrowed from Northwestern professors.[4] First sold on 14 June 1948, The TeleVision Guide was founded by MacFadden Publications and Cowles Media Company circulation director Lee Wagner.[5] During the late 1940s and early 1950s, Wagner began publishing regional editions of The TeleVision Guide for New England and the Baltimore–Washington area.[6] Brothers Irvin and Arthur Borowsky, co-founders of the North American Publishing Company, began publishing the Local Televiser (which was subsequently retitled Philadelphia TV Digest following its initial issues) on 7 November 1948, with the intent of using the publication to serve as a promotional tool to increase television sales by way of a commitment from local distributors of Philco television sets to pay 50% of the publishing costs and the provision of television set ownership lists.[4] Many local newspapers throughout the United States also began publishing weekly listings guides for distribution as supplements in their Sunday editions, eventually extending to daily schedule inserts within the lifestyles/entertainment sections of their weekday editions.
In the winter of early 1953, Wagner sold The TeleVision Guide to
While the initial issue was an almost instant success, TV Guide's circulation decreased with subsequent issues, even as the magazine's distribution expanded to five additional cities (Pittsburgh, Rochester, Detroit, Cleveland and San Francisco) throughout the summer of 1953. Sales of TV Guide began to reverse course with the 4–10 September 1953, "Fall Preview" issue, which had an average circulation of 1,746,327 copies; by the mid-1960s, TV Guide had become the most widely circulated magazine in the United States.[9]
Print TV listings were a common feature of newspapers from the late-1950s to the mid-2000s. With the general decline of newspapers and the rise of digital TV listings as well as on-demand watching, TV listings have slowly began to be withdrawn since 2010. The New York Times removed its TV listings from its print edition in September 2020.[10]
Electronic and interactive program guides
As
An "optional" software upgrade released for the Amiga 1000-based EPG Sr. in 1987, incorporated a modified listings grid that was confined to the lower half of the screen. The
In 1986, Chris Schultheiss and engineer Peter Hallenbeck of STV/Onsat – a publishing company that had been known for distributing print listings guides – introduced SuperGuide, an interactive electronic programming guide for home satellite subscribers.[12][13] The original system stored programming information (up to around one week in advance of the current date) through a locally sourced computer system, and was programmed to allow a remote control to interact with the unit. Users had to turn off the guide once they found a show they wanted to watch, and then change the channel on the satellite receiver to the appropriate service. Listings information was distributed by satellite to the SuperGuide software to the home owner's dish.
An upgraded version of SuperGuide was released in March 1990; integrated into the Uniden 4800 receiver,[14] this version – the first commercially available unit for home use that had a locally stored guide integrated with the receiver for viewing and taping at the touch of a button – included hardware that allowed storage of up to two weeks of programming information and permitted users to access the channel carrying the show they wanted to watch or set it to record (controlling a VCR unit via an infrared output) by remote.[15]
In June 1988, Eli Reiter, Michael H. Zemering and Frank Shannon were awarded a patent for an interactive program guide (IPG) that allowed users to search programming information by title or category.[16] In 1996, Prevue Networks (the parent of what, by that point, had become the Prevue Channel) introduced Prevue Interactive (later known as TV Guide Interactive and then iGuide), the first IPG service distributed in the United States, which was initially designed for General Instrument's DCT 1000 series of set-top digital cable converter boxes.
In 1995, publishing company TV Host, Inc. launched the Electronic TV Host, a subscription IPG service (operating as an extension of the namesake TV Host print listings magazine) that allowed users to download and search program listings, set reminders for programs users wanted to watch or record, and create personalized television listings pertaining to their viewing tastes. Electronic TV Host was developed as both a website and a free-to-download, diskette-installable desktop application for Windows 95 (and later, Windows 98 and Windows 2000) that allowed users to download localized program information for a monthly or annual subscription via a downloadable listings database.[17][18]
TV Guide followed with its own web-based listings service in March 1996, with the launch of the iGuide. Originally developed by the News Corporation-
List of TV listings magazines
Currently published
Australia
Publication | Year of launch | Current owner |
---|---|---|
TV Week | 1960 | Bauer Media Group |
Canada
Publication | Year of launch | Current owner |
---|---|---|
TV Hebdo ( Québec ) |
1957 | TVA Publications |
TVWeek | 1953 | Canada Wide Media Limited |
France
Publication | Year of launch | Current owner |
---|---|---|
Télé 7 Jours | 1960 | Hachette Filipacchi Médias |
Télé Poche | 1966 | Mondadori France |
Télérama | 1947 | Publications de la Vie Catholique |
TV Magazine | 1987 | Quebecor World |
Germany
Publication | Year of launch | Current owner |
---|---|---|
Auf einen Blick | 1952 | Bauer Verlag
|
Funk Uhr | 1952 | Mediengruppe Klambt |
Gong | 1948 | Funke Mediengruppe |
Hörzu | 1946 | Funke Mediengruppe |
Ireland
Publication | Year of launch | Current owner |
---|---|---|
RTÉ Guide | 1961 | RTÉ Commercial Enterprises |
TV Now | 2000 | VIP |
Italy
Publication | Year of launch | Current owner |
---|---|---|
TV Sorrisi e Canzoni | 1952 | Arnoldo Mondadori Editore |
Japan
Publication | Year of launch | Current owner |
---|---|---|
Beautiful Lady & Television | 1997 | Tokyo News Service |
New Zealand
Publication | Year of launch | Current owner |
---|---|---|
TV Guide | 1994 | Fairfax New Zealand
|
Portugal
Publication | Year of launch | Current owner |
---|---|---|
TV Guia | 1979 | Cofina
|
Russia
Publication | Year of launch | Current owner |
---|---|---|
TV Park | 1994 | Media Park |
United Kingdom
Publication | Year of launch | Current owner |
---|---|---|
Inside Soap | 1992 | Hearst Magazines UK (formerly Nat Mags) |
Heat | 1999 | H. Bauer |
Radio Times | 1923 | Immediate Media Company (formerly BBC Magazines) |
Total TV Guide | 2003 | H. Bauer |
TV & Satellite Week | 1993 | Future plc |
TV Choice | 1999 | H. Bauer |
TV Guide | 1991–? | Hearst Magazine UK |
TVTimes | 1955 | Future plc |
What's on TV | 1991 | Future plc |
United States
Publication | Year of launch | Current owner |
---|---|---|
Channel Guide | NTVB Media | |
OnDISH Magazine (available exclusively to Dish Network subscribers) |
NTVB Media | |
Teve Guía (Puerto Rico) |
1962 | Agencia de Publicaciones |
TV Guide Magazine |
1953 | NTVB Media |
TVWeekly | NTVB Media | |
VIEW! Magazine! (available exclusively to Wide Open West subscribers) |
NTVB Media |
Defunct
Australia
Publication | Years of operation |
---|---|
TV Times | 1957–1980 |
Bulgaria
Publication | Years of operation |
---|---|
Radio Pregled (1946- ), Radio-TV Pregled (1960- ), Televiziya i Radio (1972-2002) | 1946–2002 |
Canada
Publication | Years of operation |
---|---|
TV Guide | 1977–2006 |
Italy
Publication | Years of operation |
---|---|
Radiocorriere TV | 1925–1995 |
Philippines
Publication | Years of operation |
---|---|
Atlas TV Guide | 2009-2013 |
Guide | 2001-2004 |
SkyGuide | 1997-2001 |
TV Star Guide | 1999-2009 |
TV Times | 1978-84 |
Romania
Publication | Years of operation |
---|---|
Programul Radio și Televiziune | 1950s |
Radio-TV | 1960s-70s |
Tele-Radio | 1980s |
Panoramic Radio-TV | 1990s |
United Kingdom
Publication | Dates of operation |
---|---|
Film & TV Week | 1997 |
TV easy | 2005–2014 |
TV Pick | 2013 |
TV Plus | 1991 |
TV Quick | 1991–2010 |
What Satellite and Digital TV | 1986–2014 |
United States
Publication | Years of operation |
---|---|
The Cable Guide | 1989–2012 |
Total TV | 1986–1998 |
List of TV listings websites
Current
Australia
Website | Year of launch | Current owner |
---|---|---|
Freeview.com.au | 2008 | Freeview |
On TV Tonight (also distributed in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom and Ireland) |
2014 | On TV Tonight Pty Ltd. |
OurGuide | 2002 | Ourguide Pty Ltd. |
TV Tonight | 2007 | TV Tonight, LLC |
YourTV.com.au | Nine Digital Pty Ltd |
Canada
Website | Year of launch | Current owner |
---|---|---|
TVPassport (also distributed in the United States) |
2016 | TV Media Inc. |
France
Website | Year of launch | Current owner |
---|---|---|
TVcesoir.fr | 2023 | On TV Tonight |
Italy
Website | Year of launch | Current owner |
---|---|---|
TVDaily.it | 2012 | Anicaflash |
Guida.tv | 2023 | On TV Tonight |
South Korea
Website | Year of launch | Current owner |
---|---|---|
TVDaily.asiae.co.kr | 2006 |
Sweden
Website | Year of launch | Current owner |
---|---|---|
tv.nu | 2007 | Schibsted Media Group |
United Kingdom
Website | Year of launch | Current owner |
---|---|---|
OnTheBox | 2002 | Olderiswiser Media Limited |
TVGuide.co.uk | 2004 | TVGuide.co.uk Ltd TV Listings |
YO.TV | 2009 | TVGuide.co.uk Ltd TV Listings |
MyTelly.co.uk | 2023 | On TV Tonight |
United States
Website | Year of launch | Current owner |
---|---|---|
TV Guide | 1996 | Fandom |
TitanTV[25] | 2001 | TitanTV, Inc. |
TVTV.us (also distributed in Canada) |
2016 | |
Zap2It (also distributed in Canada) |
2000 | Tribune Digital Ventures/Gracenote |
Defunct
Canada
Website | Years of operation |
---|---|
TV Guide | 2006–2012 |
United Kingdom
Website | Years of operation |
---|---|
Tank Top TV | 2006–2016 |
United States
Website | Years of operation |
---|---|
Couchville | 2007–2008[26] |
MeeVee | 2005–2009[27] |
TVplanner | 2006–2010 |
References
- ^ "TV Services - Real-time Editing & Design". Real-time Editing & Design. Retrieved 17 November 2015.
- ^ "DigiGuide Listings Data Services".
- ^ "TV Listings Magazine Market". MediaTel. 25 January 1991. Retrieved 4 October 2019.
- ^ a b c d "1946-1949 "TV Forecast": Telling the Public About What's On the Air". TVHistory.tv. Retrieved 5 June 2018.
- ^ "Lee Wagner, 83; Founding Owner of TV Guide Magazine". Los Angeles Times. 14 September 1993.
- ^ Wired. Condé Nast.
- CBS Interactive. Retrieved 5 June 2015.
- ^ "Pre-National TV-Magazine Launch Dates". TVHistory.tv. Retrieved 5 June 2018.
- ^ "National TV Guide – The First Years". TVHistory.tv. Retrieved 5 June 2018.
- ^ "A Final Episode for the TV Listings (Published 2020)". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 24 September 2022.
- ^ "Video: Prevue Guide operating normally". YouTube. Archived from the original on 21 December 2021.
- ^ STV Magazine. May 1987 p. 14
- ^ 1986 STTI exhibitor list, p. 33
- ^ Onsat Magazine. 10–16 June 1990
- ^ 1990 Transactions on IEEE consumer electronics society meeting notes/synopses, p. 310
- ^ US 4751578, Reiter, Eli; Zemering, Michael H. & Shannon, Frank, "System for electronically controllably viewing on a television updateable television programming information", published 1988-06-14, assigned to David P. Gordon
- ^ "Gemstar Buys Online TV Program Guide". Bloomberg News. 29 April 1999. Retrieved 8 June 2018 – via The New York Times.
- ^ "TV listings switch channels to PCs". CNET. 8 July 1996. Retrieved 8 June 2018.
- ^ "IGUIDE UNVEILS TV LISTINGS". AdAge. Crain Communications. 8 March 1996. Retrieved 5 June 2018.
- AdAge. Crain Communications. 8 May 1996. Retrieved 5 June 2018.
- ^ Jane Hodges (13 January 1997). "NEWS CORP. SAYS HELLO TO 'TV GUIDE,' GOOD-BYE TO IGUIDE". AdAge. Crain Communications. Retrieved 5 June 2018.
- ^ Laurence Zuckerman (13 January 1997). "Murdoch Again Tries His Luck on Line". The New York Times. Retrieved 5 June 2018.
- ^ "TV GUIDE TO LAUNCH NETWORK OF WEB SITES". AdAge. Crain Communications. 8 September 1997. Retrieved 5 June 2018.
- ^ "TV.nu Alternatives". zeemly.com.
- ^ "TitanTV Alternatives". saashub.com.
- ^ "Couchville Joins The Deadpool". TechCrunch. Archimedes Ventures. 14 February 2008. Retrieved 8 June 2018.
- ^ Erick Schonfeld (1 March 2009). "MeeVee A Ghost Town, All Employees "Inactive." LiveUniverse CEO Greenspan Still Nuts". TechCrunch. Archimedes Ventures. Retrieved 8 June 2018.